Knitted crepe fabric and method of manufacture

ABSTRACT

Shrinkable weft yarns are knitted into a base warp knit fabric, with adjacent weft yarns being looped about the stitches of the wales of the base fabric at staggered points in a walewise direction.

United States Patent Mayer [45] Sept. 19, 1972 [54] KNITTED CREPE FABRIC AND [56] References Cited TH F MAN FACT RE ME 01) 0 U U UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] Inventor: Karl Mayer, Bruhlstrasse 25, 6053 obcnshause" near OffenbachI 3,314,123 4/1967 GIQCbll ..66/202 X many 1,513,066 10/1924 QLllCk ..66/l95 2.911.704 11/1959 Brown ..66/l95 X [22] Filed: Aprll 10, 1970 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [21] Appl. No.: 27,404

657,630 3/1938 Germany ..66/1 95 Foreign Application Priority Data Primary Examiner-Ronald Feldbaum April 10, 1969 Germany ..P 19 is 243.5 Attorney-Kurt Kelman 52 us. Cl ..66/193, 66/202 [571 ABSTRACT [51 Int. Cl. ..D04b 23/08 Shrinkable weft yarns are knitted into a base warp knit [58] Field Of Search ..66/190195, 202 fabric, with adjacent weft yarns being looped about the stitches of the wales of the base fabric at staggered points in a walewise direction.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEPIQIBT? V 3.691.796 SHEET 1 [IF 3 TiS' 1 I'2 L4 L3 in W INVENTOR. KER]... MAYER HGENT IN VEN TOR.

Kn RL. MAYER BY RGEN'T P'ATENTEDSEP 19 191 2 SHEET 3 0F 3 ,1 J Y C A A A A K INVENTOR.

Ram aven BY HGENT sional patterns imparting a crepe effect to the fabric,

which are completely closed, have been manufactured heretofore on looms or on tubular knitting machines. Warp knitting machines could not be used for this purpose so that their advantages were not available for the knitting of crepe fabrics.

I have now found that Raschel machines may be used for this purpose if they have a base guide bar and at least six to eight pattern guide bars. A shrinkable yarn, such as widely available heat-and/or water-shrinkable synthetic yarns, are knitted as weft yarns on a base fabric having rows of stitches knitted with the base guide bar while the weft yarns are laid in each row of stitches with the pattern guide bars, with the loops of the weft yarns staggered in a walewise direction and complementing each other in each row.

The staggered loops of the weft yarns in the same row of stitches are adjacent with the last yarn guide of one weft to the first yarn guide of the next weft. This produces a completely closed fabric which is patterned regardless of the nature of the base fabric completely by the randomly and irregularly staggered weft yarns.

If desired, the adjacent weft yarns in each row of stitches may slightly overlap. Preferably, spaces are provided in the fabric between two adjacent shrinkable weft yarns, such spaces extending irregularly but complementary in a walewise direction. If the weft yarns overlap, three-dimensional portions are produced. In either case, the warp knit fabric has a crepe effect.

Also, two adjacent weft yarns may extend in a row of stitchesin the same direction or in opposite directions.

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent in the following detailed description of two preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a knitted fabric according to this invention, wherein the weft yarns extend in the same direction;

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment thereof, wherein the weft yarns extend in opposite directions; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic showing of a portion of a knitted fabric in accordance with the invention.

Referring now to the drawing, wherein like reference numerals designate like parts, the knitted fabric of the present invention is illustrated in connection with a knitted net including rows of chain stitch yarns L. constituting the wales of the fabric. It should be noted, however, that this invention is not limited to knitted nets. The weft yarns L and L alternate with each other and extend in the same direction, being looped through alternating chain stitches of each row of wales to complement each other in each row. The weft yarns are of the well known shrinkable type so that the loops of the weft yarns produce a crepe effect in the finished fabric at staggered points thereof.

Y The pattern chains for this fabric are as follows:

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the net with wales L has adjacent weft yarns L L extending in opposite directions from a common chain stitch to which the weft yarns are looped. The oppositely extending weft yarns are of different lengths and are irregularly distributed over the fabric.

The pattern chains for this fabric are as follows:

The fabric portion shown in FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the wale and weft yarns, weft yarns L to L extending partially in the same direction and partially in opposite directions, the wefts complementing each other completely in each row of stitches. To facilitate viewing of the fabric in FIG. 3, the wales L and L of the net are shown only in fine broken lines and dots, except at the left edge of the fabric where the stitches of the net are shown in full. Two guide bars form the wales L and the weft yarns L respectively. The loops of the weft yarns, i.e. the looped ends of the weft yarns seen in the direction of the wales, form irregular lines, each differing from the other, as can be seen by the broken lines which extend walewise. These irregular lines formed by the loops of the wefts create the crepe effect in the knitted fabric.

I claim:

1. A closed warp knitted crepe effect fabric comprising, a net ground structure having stitches constituting the wales of the fabric, with irregular patterns of shrunk weft yarns looped about the stitches of the wales to cause said crepe effect, said ground structure including a plurality of rows of said wales, and a plurality of said shrunk weft yarns looped about the stitches of each of the wales at closely adjacent points staggered in a walewise direction, the weft yarns complementing each other in each of said rows of wales being staggered differently in the walewise direction.

2. The fabric of claim 1 wherein pairs of said weft yarns extending in opposite directions are looped about each other about stitches of the wales.

3. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the loops of the weft yarns form an irregular line extending in walewise direction.

4. A method of making a warp knitted crepe fabric on a Raschel knitting machine having a guide bar to form a basic net ground structure, and at least six pattern guide bars threaded with shrinkable yarns which comprises knitting an open net ground fabric having wales and courses with said guide bar, laying in weft yarns in each course of said ground structure with at least one of said pattern guide bars, staggering said weft yarns randomly in the wale-wise direction while complementing said weft yarns in each course, subjecting the aforesaid fabric to a shrinkage treatment causing the aforesaid fabric to produce a completely closed fabric having irregularly distributed three-dimensional patterns imparting a crepe effect to the fabric by randomly and irregularly staggered weft yarns.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein adjacent weft yarns in each course of ground structure overlap.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein two adjacent weft yarns in a course of ground structure extend in the same direction.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein two adjacent weft yarns in a course of ground structure extend in opposite 5 directions.

i l I III 

1. A closed warp knitted crepe effect fabric comprising, a net ground structure having stitches constituting the wales of the fabric, with irregular patterns of shrunk weft yarns looped about the stitches of the wales to cause said crepe effect, said ground structure including a plurality of rows of said wales, and a plurality of said shrunk weft yarns looped about the stitches of each of the wales at closely adjacent points staggered in a walewise direction, the weft yarns complementing each other in each of said rows of wales being staggered differently in the walewise direction.
 2. The fabric of claim 1 wherein pairs of said weft yarns extending in opposite directions are looped about each other about stitches of the wales.
 3. The fabric of claim 1, wherein the loops of the weft yarns form an irregular line extending in walewise direction.
 4. A method of making a warp knitted crepe fabric on a Raschel knitting machine having a guide bar to form a basic net ground structure, and at least six pattern guide bars threaded with shrinkable yarns which comprises knitting an open net ground fabric having wales and courses with said guide bar, laying in weft yarns in each course of said ground structure with at least one of said pattern guide bars, staggering said weft yarns randomly in the wale-wise direction while complementing said weft yarns in each course, subjecting the aforesaid fabric to a shrinkage treatment causing the aforesaid fabric to produce a completely closed fabric having irregularly distributed three-dimensional patterns imparting a crepe effect to the fabric by randomly and irregularly staggered weft yarns.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein adjacent weft yarns in each course of ground structure overlap.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein two adjacent weft yarns in a course of ground structure extend in the same direction.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein two adjacent weft yarns in a course of ground structure extend in opposite directions. 